Embarrassment Both Ways Provides Bears an Added Edge Against Jaguars
Real upsets happen only occasionally in the NFL despite all the talk of any given Sunday, Monday night, or all five of the other days in this pandemic season.
Sure, there are upsets but then there are real upsets, like what the Jets did to the Rams last week and the Bengals did to the Steelers—wretched teams feeding at the bottom of the NFL tank suddenly springing one on a heavily favored opponent.
The Bears (7-7) obviously have to fear the possibility of upset Sunday at Jacksonville when a 1-13 Jaguars team focused on receiving Trevor Lawrence in the draft has a chance to completely ruin Chicago's football season.
A Jaguars win wouldn't just be an upset. It would be a catastropic embarrassment—for both teams.
The Bears are saying they know how to treat this type of game.
"We have an opponent coming up that plays hard and physical, so again, I think everybody knows that," wide receiver Allen Robinson said. "I like where we're at as team. I like where we're at mentally."
If any team should be focused on losing it's Jacksonville and if any team should be focused on avoiding embarrassment it's the Bears.
Only three weeks ago the Bears suffered an upset of minor proportions by handing over the ball and the game to Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions as they lost for the sixth straight time. This one fumble could wind up costing them the playoffs.
Much has changed in two games since, but not enough to provide anyone with a comfortable feeling as they pursue Arizona for the final wild-card berth.
Coach Matt Nagy sees the kind of attitude necessary to avoid the embarrassment of losing to either their old quarterback Mike Glennon or Gardner Minshew. Even on Christmas he saw his team maintaining focus after two straight wins.
"They're having fun," Nagy said of his team. "They're in a good place. But they've got to understand, and it's our job as coaches, just to make sure that nothing has changed.
"For us, zero has changed. So we've got to make sure, yeah, it's OK to get that swag and have that, but on Sunday you've got to make sure you do exactly what we've been doing and enjoying it and having fun."
That would mean continuing to run the ball with David Montgomery the way they have for four weeks, and have Mitchell Trubisky balance it out with the play-action pass against the league's worst defense.
"I just know that you can't take anybody lightly, especially in this league," Trubisky said. "The time I've been in it, it doesn't matter. Every game is close on Sunday, and anybody can win at any given time.
"So the team that goes out there, is the most desperate, is playing fast, that's what we’re preaching over here. Because we have to win every single game, so we can't have any lapses."
They need their defense to step up at key times like last week, if not all game long like against Houston. Rookie 1,000-yard running back James Robinson didn't practice all week with an ankle issue for Jacksonville but could give fits to a Bears defense which has struggled against the run at times.
"One thing we know about Jacksonville, they're a tough, gritty team," defensive end Bilal Nichols said. "A lot of the games that they have lost this year have been close games. It's not like this team is just constantly getting blown out."
The Jaguars have been blown out in two straight weeks by good teams. They lost by 21 to Tennessee and 26 to Baltimore. If the Bears want to prove they're also a good team, beating Jacksonville handily wouldn't hurt.
They could probably slop their way past a disinterested team, but what would this do for their chances then against Green Bay the following week in a do-or-die regular-season finale? Sharp execution and a quick victory is needed.
"We all know that at any given time for different reasons things can happen," Nagy said. "But the ultimate goal is for us to keep doing what we're doing and build off of that momentum and just keep getting better and better and better, which gives our team the best chance to win collectively."
If they don't win over Jacksonville, they'll collectively see their season crash and burn in the flames of embarrassment.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
